Saying Goodbye to Your Best Friend: How to Cope the Death of Pet Dog

A pet dog can become a great friend. If you tend to have a bad day because of your lack of popularity in high school or your problems with studies, your pet dog will always be by your side and will love you the same. A huge number of people around the world have pet dogs, which implies that people suffer the grief of losing a beloved animal daily.

Whether due to their advanced age, because they have contracted an illness or due to an accident, pet dogs, like everyone else, die. But how do you cope with losing a dog?

How to Cope with Losing a Dog

Dogs are faithful companions, as well as a source of unconditional love. They give us the feeling of being necessary. Owners, of course, avoid thinking that their pets will one day die, so, regardless of the cause of death, they rarely know how to cope with the loss of a pet.

The emotions that wake up during the loss of a dog can be quite complicated and difficult to cope with. For example, you can get angry when your friends fail to understand how grievous it is to you as a result of the loss of your pet dog. Or maybe you experience periods of guilt for not spending much more time with it when it was alive. It is completely normal to feel emotional with the loss of a dog. In fact, many teenagers lived with their pets and have been part of their family for a long time.

Some people feel ready to live with a new pet right after the loss of a dog. But there are people who need more time. Sometimes different members of the family need different periods of time to overcome the grief of the loss of a pet.

A person may feel prepared to have a new pet from the beginning, but another may take longer. It is important that you take the time you need to overcome the grief and also respect this process in the life of other members of your family.

What Happens When a Dog Dies Naturally

Dogs like all living beings have a soul and if treated with respect, love and affection, can after their natural death, remain up to 4 years alongside those who gave them such love. This tends to be their own way of avoiding the suffering which comes along with separation. When a dog dies naturally, it comes back to have the same vitality as when it was a puppy. Whoever has lost a friend, knows that he continued or continues with you, with the same happiness as ever.

Animals, unlike men, do not have the time of erraticity (long interval between one incarnation and another). When they die, almost instantly, their soul or vital energy is drawn magnetically and by affinity to yet another incarnation process. That way, little by little, it is progressing. We must remember that the law of progress is one of the fundamental principles of the Spiritist doctrine.

The souls of some animals can, like the dogs, return quickly to their owner, through another one that is born. But this is only due to our amount of love shown to them while they were alive.

Stages of Grief after Losing a Pet

Contrary to many people's beliefs, it is normal to grief after losing a pet. When a pet dies, it is necessary to cry, vent, reflect, and feel the loss. Each person experiences the grieving phases that are experienced when a loved one is lost differently. However, you can distinguish several phases in the process of overcoming the death of the dog, which is comparable to those experienced with the death of a loved one. Distinguishing them, accepting them and assuming them helps to overcome better the process of accepting the death of the animal. The stages include:

1. The Denial Phase

This occurs when the animal dies. It does not usually last long, around a few minutes or hours. It depends on the degree of the union that the person had with his dog.

This type of events are hard and difficult to assimilate, so you experience a shock process that does not allow you to assess or assimilate the loss because the pain is too intense. In this way, the person can think about the death of his animal: "it is not true" or "it is an error."

The person who loses his dog can play with the fantasy that the dog will appear at any moment through the door and that what has happened is, surely, a sad mistake".

2. The Anger Phase

This occurs as a psychological defence mechanism; and involves a reaction of aggression or anger. It is a typical response to humans when they are hurt.

In this phase, the dog owner also desires to attack those responsible for the loss. (In case of an accident).Some people even feel anger towards the dog that has left.

3. The Guilt Phase

Here, the owner tends to look for causes of the death, and if for any reason they can attribute it to their own behavior such as carelessness or negligence, the guilt will begin to take shape. These are irrational ideas and feelings, but normal in this phase of guilt.

4. The Negotiation Phase

In this phase, the grieving person fantasizes about recovering his dog. The thoughts and fantasies appear as: "if I do this, my dog will appear." The person who is religious goes to his God to find comfort, and the thoughts about the deceased dog are continuous because the memories of the moments lived with the animal become almost an obsession.

5. The Depression Phase

Here, feelings of sadness or grief predominate. The person shows no appetite and may have difficulty falling asleep. During the depression phase, the owner's mental schemas change rapidly to readjust to the routine of his daily life.

6. The Adaptation Phase

This phase can be referred to as the end of mourning over the death of the dog. The factors that help one to accept the situation are pain and a change of mental patterns that occur. In this way, it is possible to elaborate the duel and to fit the loss in our daily life.

Letter From Dog to Owner After Death

Do not Cry for Me...You have given me a home to live in, you have provided me with food and, above all, you have given me your love and your company. The last thing I want is to see you suffer for me.

Now that I am not with you, I do not want to see you sad. I wish that when you think of me, you smile because that way I will know that my memory makes you happy.

And, please, do not throw away my toys, my bed, or my things, because in this world many other colleagues live alone, sad and unloving ... many who would give their lives to share yours.

No, do not say it, do not say you do not want to have more animals ... that makes me think that the time I was with you did not make you happy.

Please, try to understand that my death is not in vain, that it serves so that another has the luck to be able to live and to know how beautiful your friendship is, that knows the true "dog's life," that discovers the affection.

Do not be sad ... I'm not because I know you keep that special corner for me in your heart.

Poem From Dog to Owner after Death

*You were the best person a dog could have as a friend.

I was just a puppy when we met for the first time. You gave me true love right from the beginning,

Good times we had together, we shared all life brought our way,

but sadly, the years raced by all too quickly, my time to leave has arrived,

I am very much aware of how much you desire to have me around,

I see the tears which flow when I'm not available at the door.

Your love was bold for the whole world to see,

even though my departure left you heartbroken, you set my spirit free.

So please be brave despite the void my absence has created, we'll surely meet one day again.

*On the shadow:unionshoreblog

Conclusion

For people who have pets, the loss of a pet is more than the simple loss of an animal. It is also the loss of a friend and companion. Overcoming the death of a pet dog you have had and taken care of can be difficult. It is very likely that you will experience the stages of grief and need the support of your family and friends to help you get ahead. You can also pay tribute using words for loss of dog as a way to process your emotions and honour their death as highlighted above.